New Diagnostic Criteria for Alzheimer's Disease : NIA-AA Diagnostic Guidelines

ABSTRACT

NINCDS-ADRDA and DSM-III clinical diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) were established in early 1980s, Since then, there has been unprecedented growth of scientific knowledge and techniques including reliable biomarkers for AD pathologies as well as information about non-AD dementia, various AD phenotypes, and insufficient diagnostic accuracy of the current AD criteria, The need to test early intervention was also much elevated. All these changes recently urged to revise the current AD clinical diagnostic criteria. Against these backgrounds, the National Institute of Aging and the Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA)-sponsored expert workgroups proposed new diagnostic guidelines for AD in 2011, which consists of three separate parts 1) the diagnosis of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease ; 2) the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease ; 3) toward defining the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease. This article aimed to briefly introduce the NIA-AA guidelines and their influence on clinical researches and practice on AD.